Trace: A Scarpetta Novel

In Trace, Kay Scarpetta travels to Richmond, Virginia, at the odd behest of the recently appointed Chief Medical Examiner, who claims that he needs her help to solve a perplexing crime. When she arrives, however, Scarpetta finds that nothing is as she expected: her former lab is in the final stages of demolition; the inept chief isn't the one who requested her after all; her old assistant chief has developed personal problems that he won't reveal; and a glamorous FBI agent meddles with the case.

Although I enjoyed the book, I did not like the narrator. Her clumbsy interpretation of Marino had me wincing everytime he was involved in dialog. The story itself is interesting, but I found myself wondering if I had missed a book, so much so I went back to see if I had in fact skipped a novel. There were references to other situations that I didn't immediately recall. I don't know if anyone else had that feeling.

No Country for Old Men

Cormac McCarthy, best-selling author of National Book Award winner All the Pretty Horses, delivers his first new novel in seven years. Written in muscular prose, No Country for Old Men is a powerful tale of the West that moves at a blistering pace.

This book was captivating and I really enjoyed it. I got bored with the last 45 minutes of the book though, I kept listening thinking something was going to happen, but it was all just he sheriff rambling about nothing.

The Book of the Dead

The New York Museum of Natural History receives their pilfered gem collection back, ground down to dust. Diogenes, the psychotic killer who stole them in Dance of Death, is throwing down the gauntlet to both the city and to his brother, FBI Agent Pendergast, who is currently incarcerated in a maximum security prison.

I love, LOVE this book. It was a fantastic "read" - the revelation about how the Pendergast brothers became so polarized was satisfying and made Agent Pendergast a little more human. I was very happy to see Constance come into her own. Watching her character develope and learning more about her inner workings was great.

So much is resolved in this book, you are almost afraid that like any good story it has no where left to go. So not true. In the end, although I had predicted at least part of this ending, I was left wanting more.

This is by far Pendergasts most personal and revealing novel. He truly becomes a human being in this story. I really hope the authors continue the series.

Men, Love, & Sex: The Complete User's Guide for Women

What makes a man fall in love? Why do men really cheat? What does he want in the bedroom? What's the one thing that men crave in a relationship more than anything else (besides that)? The surprising and insightful answers to life's biggest relationship questions can be found in Men, Love, & Sex: The Complete User's Guide for Women.

Although I found a few helpful hints in this book, it mostly reaffirmed my preconceived notion that it really is all about sex with men. Each chapter ends with "the sexiest thing XXXX said to a man was" followed by some version of "I want you", "do me now", "You're a sex god", etc...

The book is filled with humor, though with the aweful narration is almost impossible to tell. The narrator for this book, while he has nice voice was totally inappropriate, it's the equivalent of haveing Penthouse Forum read by Daffy Duck. Terrible choice.

I was originally drawn to the book to help reignite some passion after having my first child. I have always found that men who read Men's Health Magazine were in general better, more attentive lovers. Therefore I concluded that the auther would provide some valuable insite into the world of men. It's a peek behind the curtain that doesn't necessarily reveal the wizard. Instead you are confronted with an insecure, dirty old man. Much of the information in the book produced, for me anyway, a "Duh, like I didn't know this already" kinda feeling. Perhaps adding "for Dummies" to the title of this book would be appropriate.

In the end, while I found the book amusing, it was not the most informative book I've read on the subject and the narration was horrible. For that reason I could only give it 2 stars.

Predator

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowbound Boston, one as unnerving as any she has ever faced. The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team, Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and Lucy Farinelli, to suspect that they are hunting someone with a cunning and malevolent mind whose secrets have kept them in the shadows, until now.

I found this book totally frustrating. Between Lucy's out of control, childish, it's all about me attitude and Marino acting even more bullheaded and stupid than usual, I found myself wanting to punch every character, even Kay in the mouth.

When TLP came out and the main characters decided to thumb their nose at the system that screwed them I was excited, expectant. So far I have been dissapointed. It's as thought the glue that kept them together got left out in the sun so the whole group is falling apart, turning on each other and basically wasting time and space.

I hope the next book will have the characters receiving a recto cranial inversion reversal so we can get on with some good stories.

The Codex

"Greetings from the dead," declares Maxwell Broadbent on the videotape he left behind after his mysterious disappearance. A notorious treasure hunter and tomb raider, Broadbent accumulated over half a billion dollars' worth of priceless art, gems, and artifacts before vanishing, along with his entire collection, from his mansion in New Mexico.

This Indian Jones type story was fun, I stumbled across the main character Tom Broadbent in a subsequent novel (Tyrannasaur Canyon). I found his backstory as told in this book compelling. The brothers are an interesting dynamic. I found the story interesting, if at times predictable. A fun read all around.

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